Fruit-drier



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2 Sheets-Sheet 1. D. BRITTON.

FRUIT. DRIER.

Patented Sept. 20, 881.

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D. BRITTON.

FRUIT DRIER.

No. 247,298. Patented Sept. 20,1881.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFEIc.

DAVID BRITTON, OF JONESBOROUGH, ILLINOIS.

FRUIT-DRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 247,298, dated September 20, 1881.

Application filed June 20, 1881. (Model) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID BRITTON, of J onesborou gh, i n the county of Union and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fruit-Driers, of which the following is a specification.

In the accompanying.drawings, Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a sectional side elevation of my improvement. Fig. 2, Sheet 1, is a sectional plan View of the same, taken through the broken line w 00, Fig. 1. Fig. 3, Sheet 2, is afront elevation of the same. Fig. 4, Sheet 2, is a sectional end elevation of the same, taken through the line 1 y, Fig. 2. Fig. 5, Sheet 2. is a plan view of one of the drawers. Fig. 6, Sheet 2, is asectional elevation of the same, taken through the line 2 a, Fig 5.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The object of this invention is to facilitate the drying of fruit and promote convenience in inserting, changing, and removing the said fruit.

The invention consists in a fruit-drier constructed with a dryinghouse having separable strip in its roof, a furnace, plates for guiding the air, the rabbeted cleats to support the fruit-receiving drawers, and the separable end frames having cross-bars and hinged doors for inserting and removing the said drawers with very little waste of heated air.

The drying-house is formed by attaching casing-boards A to posts B, and can be made of any desired or convenient length, breadth, and height. The cover or roof 0 inclines from the middle part toward each side, and has an opening,D,formcdlongitudinallyalongitsmiddle part or ridge. The opening D is tapered from the forward end,of the roof 0 to its rear end, and is filled with a tapered strip,E,which can be inserted and removed as required. The opening D is designed to allow the moist air to escape, and thus induce a circulation of the heated air.

In the lower forward part of the drier is placed a furnace, F, which I prefer to make cylindrical in form, but which can be made of any other desired shape. The furnace F is provided with a grate, G, which I prefer to make detachable, so that the furnace can be used with a grate for burning coal and without a it is bent to one side, passes out through the side of the said drying-house, and is then bent upward, and extended to such a height as will insure a proper draft.

I is a plate, which may be the extended front plate of the furnace F, or a plate attached to the said front plate. The plate I is attached to the front corner-posts B of the drying-house. In the plate I are formed openings J K, which are provided with slides or other doors L M, so that they can be partly or wholly closed, as may be desired. The opening J is above the grate G, and the opening K is below the said grate Gr, so that by adjusting the doors L M the draft can be regulated as circumstances may require.

In the lower edges of the sides of the dryin g-house are formed apertures N, to admit air to be heated. The apertures N can be formed by placing blocks beneath the lower ends of the side posts, or by notching the lower edges of the casing, or of the casing and sills when sills are used.

To the inner surface of the lower forward parts of the sides of the drying-house are attached the outer edges of upwardly-inclined plates 0, to guide the cold air as it enters the drying-houseagainstthefurnaceF,tobe heated before it is allowed to circulate through the said drying-house.

To the sides of the drying-house AB, directly opposite the furnace F, are attached metal plates P, which incline inward slightly toward their upper edges, and which are de' signed to serve as guards to prevent the sides of the drying-house contiguous to the furnace F from becoming unduly heated, and to serve as guides and reflectors to direct the heated air upward into the middle upper part of the drying-house.

Directly above the furnace F is suspended by rods Q, attached to the sides of the dryhouse, or by other suitable supports, a plate, R, to serve as a guard to prevent the heated air from rising from the furnace directly into the upper middle part of the drying-house. The

plates PR thus break up and mix the rising currents of heated air, so that the heated air, as it enters the upper part of the drying-house, will have about a uniform temperature, and will thus dry the fruit evenly.

To the inner sides of the posts B of the drying-house are attached four pairs of cleats, S, more or less, Which are rabbeted along the inner edges of their upper sides, to serve as ways to receive the drawers T, that hold the fruit while being dried. The drawers T are formed of perforated metal,wire-cloth, or interwoven slats attached at their ends to a frame, and supported at the centers of the longitudinal slats by a cross-bar of the said frame. The drawers T are made of such a width as to slide freely upon and between the rabbeted cleats S, and of such a length that three drawers T (more or less) can rest upon the same pair of cleats S at the same time.

To the sides of the drying-house A B C are attached bars or plates d, which are interposed between the cleats S and the side. of the drying-house A BC, at the opposite sides of the said house, alternately, as shown in Fig. 4:. With this construction the plates d cause the ascending current of heated air to pass back and forth across the drying-house and beneath the drawers T successively, so that the fruit upon all the drawers will be properly dried.

In the upper parts of the ends of the dryinghouse are fitted frames U, the lower ends of the side bars of which, or tenons formed upon the said lower ends, are inserted in sockets or mortises in cross-bars V, attached to the ends of the drying-house. The upper ends of the side bars of the frames U are secured in place by. buttons W, pivoted to the ends of the dryin g-house or to cleats attached to the said ends.

To the side bars of the frames U are attached the ends of cross-bars X, in such positions that the said cross-bars Xwill be upon a level with or slightly below the rabbeted cleats S, for convenience in inserting the drawers T. The open spaces of the frames U, between the cross-bars X, are closed by small doors Y, which are hinged to the side bars of the frames U by pivots attached to their upper corners or by other suitable means. At the front end of the drying-house A B the lowest door Y is hinged to swinginward, andthe other doorsY are hinged to swing outward. At the rear end of the drying-house A B the lowest door Y is hinged to swing outward and the other doors are hinged to swing inward.

Upon the upper sides of the side bars of the drawers T are attached bars 0, to serve as guards for the lower edges of the doors Y to rest upon, to keep the said doors from coming in contact with the fruit while the said drawers are being inserted and removed.

Upon the top of the furnace F is placed a pan, Z, to receive a material for bleaching the fruit. The pan Z is provided with a handle, a, by means of which it can be inserted and removed through an opening, I), in the side of the drying-house A B, which opening can be closed by a small door.

In using the drier the fruitis placed upon the drawers T in such a manner that no piece of fruit shall lie upon another piece. The filled drawers T are then pushed into the drying house through the lowest front door Y until the lowest pair of cleats S is filled. Then, as the next filled drawer is pushed in, the drawer first inserted is pushed out at the rear end of the drier, and is placed upon the next upper pair of cleats S until it is filled with drawers. The other pairs of cleats S are then filled successively from the first pair. In an hour and a half or two hours the fruit upon the second pair of cleats will be sufficiently dried, and the drawers can then be removed in the order in which they were inserted.

Having thus fully described my invention, 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A fruit-drier constructed substantially as herein shown and described, consisting of the house A B 0, having separable strip E in its roof, the furnace F, the air-guiding plates 0 P R, the rabbeted cleats S, and the separable end frames, U, having cross-bars X and hinged doors Y, as set forth.

2. In a fruit-drier, the combination, with the drying house A B C, of the separable end frames, U, having cross-bars X and hinged doors Y, substantially as herein shown and described, whereby the fruit-receiving drawers can be inserted and removed with very little waste of heated air, as set forth.

DAVID BRITTON.

Witnesses:

J OHN DOUGHERTY, hTAY DOUGHERTY. 

